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Get Started Modifying Themes with Naked WordPress

A constant here at the site is our collective fondness for WordPress, the open-source blogging platform that’s easily adapted to a whole range of needs. Indeed, one of the reasons that we’re so fond of WordPress is that it’s so easily extended and modified. The WordPress backend makes the code for the various themes readily available, and so it’s quite easy to apply some CSS and a little light PHP to make a theme of your very own.

For those new to the platform, or new to the idea of trying out their own changes, this can be as intimidating a process as it is empowering. What if I break something?!?

If you are interested in starting to tinker with WordPress, but are worried about modifying code you don’t understand, Joshua Beckman has your back. Beckman has distributed Naked WordPress, a stripped-down, heavily commented theme that explains what’s going on under the hood. (Freely available from Beckman’s site or from Github.) Naked WordPress “include[s] all the basic units for a client site – home page, about page, info page, blog page, etc.,” and supports responsive design, customized menus and widgets, and more.

Here’s what it looks like:

Click for full size.

The best way to try it out is probably to set up a new blog, install the theme, and start poking around. Naked WordPress makes it easy to get started on customizing WordPress for yourself!

ProfHacker Writers

Amy Cavender is a member of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, and Associate Professor of Political Science and interim Director of the Center for Academic Innovation at Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, Indiana.